Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

2.2.15 Chapter 15

The Indigo Sea, Azuhelm, November 2019.

Violet Talloway let out a piercing shriek as she fell through the air. Her hands slipped from Rho's and from Middy's as the three of them fell. Rho was also yelling. She was tumbling now head over heels, and all she could see was blue, blue sky and nothing else. And then with a hard painful crash, she struck through the surface of a vast body of water and was sucked on down.

Vi was suddenly very grateful that she was a very good swimmer. She wasn't a member-of-the-swim team and practice everyday type good, like Lily, but she would frequently train with her best friend, and had spent many of the hot Verdynian summer lunchtimes in the lake with Rho and his friends. When asked later she would say that that was what had saved her. Skill and practice, but also a bit of luck.

Somehow she managed to orient herself and keep her mouth shut tight to prevent the seawater from drowning her. Somehow, she managed to kick and pull and fight her way back up, and up, and up towards the surface. And somehow her head broke clear of the ocean and she gasped breath after breath of sweet Azuhelmian air.

She kicked and spun around, still sputtering and gasping as she spotted, what she presumed was Middy in the form of a giant turtle, with Rho clinging to his side. She pushed her way over to meet them, and them her, and the three of them reunited in the middle.

"You OK Vi?" asked Rho. It was becoming a bit of a joke.

She nodded, treading water, one had on Middy's back. "Thank fuck for all those lunchtimes at the lake! You?"

He also nodded, "Middy transformed and grabbed me just as we went under."

Vi pushed her long dark hair from her face and turned toward the Guardian. "Middy, what happened?" she asked indignantly. There was no land anywhere in sight. This wasn't just a slight miscalculation of their destination by the Guardian but had to be a major fuck-up on his part.

Middy's usual human voice emanating from the turtle-form's mouth was extremely disquieting. "I'm not sure. I've been here before, these exact coordinates, and this was a beach, not too far from the city on Cirmore Island." He paused and turned sharply from side to side, taking in their location, or lack of one. Vi and Rho both held onto the ridges of his shell for dear life.

"This is the place. There was nothing incorrect with my spells. The only explanation must be that the island has moved!"

"But that's impossible!" Vi muttered.

Rho chucked darkly "You should know by now, dear, that with enough magic, nothing is impossible,"

Her heart leapt slightly at the nickname and Vi would have leaned in and kissed him if it wasn't for the fact they were both clinging onto the sides of a giant turtle, in an ocean of calm waves stretching as far as the eye could see. Her fingers were already tingling, her toes going numb, and Rho's face was growing pale.

"Middy, can you help us get out of the water?" she asked.

"Hang on," answered the Guardian. Middy paused for a second, then somehow his shell begun to push outwards, and flatten, his whole form stretching and elongating until his turtle form was large enough to accommodate two mages upon his back. Vi and Rho scrambled aboard.

"Don't get any ideas!" said Middy, his usual human voice emanating from the turtle's huge jaw, "This is due to the extenuating circumstances only. Many Guardians frown upon the idea of carrying others."

"Noted," replied Rho, running his hand through his long damp hair, reminding Vi of a time in a classroom, what felt like a very long time ago. "Come over here, Vi, I'll dry us off."